ACADA

Friday, 24 March 2017

EXCLUSIVE: My Dream Is To Win An OSCAR - Samuel Ajibola aka ‘Spiff’

Samuel Ajibola
is a Nigerian film actor cum producer. He is best known for his role as a
child-actor in the Opa Williams directed movie ‘Tears for Love’, and famous for being the first Nigerian child
actor to win the award for Best Kid
Actor for three years in a row.

He’s also popular for his role as ‘Spiff’ in the
Africa Magic TV series ‘The Johnsons’
which earned him the AMVCA (Africa Magic Viewers Choice Award) for best Actor
in an M-net comedy series. In this interview with Sunday Obembe he speaks about
his career amongst other sundry issues.

Excerpt...

How does it feel winning the AMVCA Best Actor in the
Mnet comedy series?

The reason why it seems
really special to me is not because the African Magic Viewers Choice Awards has
been up to 5 years but because our categories was quite different, a special recognition
award. It made me feel like it’s kind of a big deal this small boy with a big
God you know that’s how it makes me feel.

I was quite excited when
they mentioned my name. There was lot of palpitation that day, I was happy that
people appreciate my work, they appreciate my talent, you know it’s a privilege
to make millions of people feel happy every day, I am blessed, if I don’t get
anything else, that is enough for me.

What would you say is the contributing factor to you
achieving this feat?

First of all God, I am
no one without God, people that believed in me and have been supportive. Then
again I would like to credit focus and tenacity, if you have focus on something
you want to do, an idea can be the beginning of focus, this whole thing started
as an idea I sat down and created after I had done with acting school. I am
really happy that I have the focus and the tenacity to continue to push on that
idea that I didn’t stop and I did not give up, I kept on pushing, it’s been 5 years
that the show started so it’s been long, I am really happy that now it’s paying
off.

How would you describe your journey into to acting?

It’s been a long one, it
has its ups and downs but what matters to people is not whether “you get am
before before, but you get am now?” It’s been a long time, I have been acting
over 15 years now, I started acting when I was about 6 or 7 years and then I
was a young boy who was just adventurous, I didn’t even know I had a talent
until one of my aunties discovered it in a church when I acted in a drama and
from then she encouraged me by taking me for auditions and that was how I got
picked, but at some point it began to disturb school and at that point in my
life, education was more important than anything I can pursue at 8 so I had to
face school, I stopped for a while from 2003-2009 six years I was in hiatus, so
I left secondary school went into university and then at that point I thanked
God for the support I got from my parents, they let me continue.

I was in ‘Fake Prophet’
by Teco Benson, I was in ‘Shuga’ in episode 6 or 7, I was in ‘Last Flight to
Abuja’, I have done quite a number of jobs but ‘The Johnsons’ is just the most
predominant one.

At what point did you decide to take acting as a
profession?

I think I didn’t even
start up with the idea of it becoming a profession for me, as a young boy I had
no idea of what profession I want to go into, I was at a point where I was
confused with what I wanted to do, at a point I wanted to be a Chemical
Engineer, at a point I wanted to be a Veterinary Doctor; but because I found
myself consistently doing the same thing for years I got used to it, I found
out that I could work on it, I could be that person I want to be, I had more
experience in it and it wasn’t a bad idea to take it up as a career. I actually
studied Political Science in University of Lagos; I wanted to study Business
Administration. I didn’t plan it as a profession, but because I have been doing
it for years, it has automatically become a profession for me. I am seeking to
get to the top of it.

What point exactly did you finally conclude that it’s
acting or nothing?

When I got into the
university at that point I returned back from hiatus to acting again, I think
it was at that point that I said okay, this could actually be a source of
income while I am in school, I could take it up as a profession but I still
needed a degree. Thank God for it, it’s been working out fine.

When you took a break from acting, what was the
feeling like for you?

It wasn’t one of the
best moments of my life, it was a very critical decision for me but I was happy
my parents took it for me, I was still very young, didn’t know how to resolve
life challenges and how things were going in life you know? But that passion
kept me on, I was always watching Nigerian movies, I was always noticing actors
that were reigning then and I will be like hey! At this point Aki and Pawpaw were
the biggest actors, another time it’s Jim Iyke, at some point Genevieve and at
all that. I kept telling myself ‘mehn you are suppose to be here’, and I had
people telling me ‘guy why are you no more acting?’ You are supposed to go back
to acting. But God did it.

After schooling when you returned to acting, what was
the reception like?

Ah! that’s one thing I
like to talk about a lot of times because that is one of the things that
encouraged me, the reception wasn’t even like anything compared to the ovation
I was getting before as a young actor. A lot of things had changed and so a lot
of people did not know me anymore so I had to start the journey all over again.
I had to start attending auditions like any other person, if a person is lucky
to remember me, if they do they be like what’s your name, Samuel Ajibola, have
you acted before, “oh nah you be that small boy that time? And sometimes I don’t
get the roles. But then again I kept on with persistence, focus and tenacity I
didn’t stop, I saw the talent I got and I know I wasn’t going to let it get to
waste, I knew someday somewhere I was going to get that big break.

What kept you going despite the challenges and
rejections?

I will like to say that
it is the passion have for the job, it was something I was doing as a young
boy, I love it, so I didn’t care if I was getting enough money to sort my bills,
at that point I didn’t care and I have supportive parents that understood. I
just kept on because I saw a bigger picture and that’s why we are here now.

So what were your days in the University like?

It was work and school
together; I was shuttling between school and locations. Again the passion kept
me on, like I mentioned, the money wasn’t even anything because I just wanted
to do it, I just like to be in front of the camera you know showing how much I
can be a different character, stuffs like that, it wasn’t easy sometimes I missed
tests, at a point I told myself I am not even looking for a first class or anything
I just want to go for any good grade and just leave. That mindset was what kept
me going.

What were your major challenges shuttling between
school and acting?

There were times that I
loss roles because I was in school and it’s exam period I couldn’t attend, I
have lost tests because I was on set and a lecturer came and gave impromptu
test and I was not there because I was busy pursuing my passion. I made sure I
had a balance, there were times I say any job that comes now I am not going to
do it, I will just focus in school, because it’s exams period. During holidays I
go all out looking for auditions.

What was your social life like?

I have always been a
friendly person, I haven’t attained the kind of popularity I have now when I
was in school, ‘The Johnsons’ is not as big as it is, few people recognised me,
so I just go through school smoothly.

Do you have any most memorable experience while at
school?

Yes! One of them is when
I fell sick and could not write an exam and that was the only course I carried
over, I was sick and I was usually shaking, I could not hold my pen and I had
to re-do that course and I felt bad because I was going to do it with younger
students. When I did it again I passed it.

Secondly, I think I won
an award in school, yeah (laughs...). I can’t even remember the category it’s
been years now, I was happy that the class appreciated me.

Your role as Spiff in ‘The Johnsons’ how challenging
is it?

It’s not challenging
anymore now, but initially it was with a lot of challenges when a baby starts
to walk it’s not easy, until he becomes an adult, it wasn’t easy initially,
thank God I got the platform on a TV series that have a long running term. First
of all in season 1, I wasn’t even there. I had to infuse my training from acting
school to my career, and it paid off.

I think I started in
season 2, then season 3, it grew big and I sustained it, then season 4 and season
5 that we just finished, I was ready, and was already used to it, one minute I
will be myself and the next I am in the character.

What will you describe as the peak of acting for you?

I am not really seeing
myself stopping any time soon, you know even though I might take other genres
of film making, I may become a director, a producer; I have started producing my
comedy skit. So ultimately I have always had flair for Oscars, maybe because it
is the biggest film awards in the whole world or because I want to be
associated with the greats basically I see which ever point I am in my life as
just an obstacle or a hurdle in the journey in the millions of places I can
reach with the depth of places I can attain so I see where I am as another
point I see myself bigger, I see myself at the Oscars. I see myself acting a Bollywood
film, I see myself producing an Indian film it is about getting bigger than
where I am now.

As a producer, you are already working on your comedy
skit ‘Dele Issues’ what is it all about?

Dele Issues is an idea,
a concept I sat down and I thought about, I wanted to explore my talent
especially for people that might not have a certain reach; I wanted people to
see my talent all over the world. I considered that people face different
challenges in the various professions. You don’t know the challenges that guy
is going through in the line of duty and you don’t know the challenges I am
going through or the one you are going through so I decided to put my talent in
characters in different professions and see how they can manoeuvre, how they
come out of those situations, obviously in a very comical way so Dele Issues is about the life of Dele in
his day to day experiences in life, and it is very comical so that is what it’s
all about. It’s on YouTube. People should go to my YouTube and subscribe to the
YouTube channel Samuel Ajibola TV or just go to YouTube and search for Dele Issues. Episode 1 is out, episode 2
is coming out two weeks from now, we’ll drop each episode on 2nd & 4th
Fridays of every month by 12pm, we are getting a lot of positive feedback from episode
1, you would love it, I can’t wait for you to see episode 2.

Who are your role models?

Honestly, I have never
had any comical role model, because I didn’t even consciously walk into the
comical realm, I have always been a drama person so I have always looked up to
the best actors in Nollywood and American actors that are doing fantastically
well, these are the ones that inspires me I am happy when I see them win
awards. Daniel Delewis winning three Oscars for best leading role, I get
inspired and say I can do this as well, I can reach there, and these are the
people that inspire me. I like listening to music.

What kind of music do you listen to?

I can listen to everything
but not country music, I just can’t stand it. I love Hip Hop, I love R&B.

Do you have favourite artistes across board?

Yeah I like Drake, I
like Olamide, I like Wizkid, I like a whole lot of them, and I listen to their
music so I like them.

How would you describe your type of person?

That’s the challenge I
have, a lot of people met Spiff before Samuel Ajibola, I am quite different I
am clever, not foolish, I am just a very different guy, a guy that has passion
and devotion for what he does, I like to explore, I like to be the best, I want
to succeed, I have a passion and drive for excellence and I love God.

How would you describe your family?

I have one of the best families
in the world, if not for anything, imagine if my parents were not supportive in
anywhere, I have a lot of people that appreciate my talent, I am very grateful
to God that I have the best of parents that supported me, to know when to take
a break and when to move on and also I have the best siblings, they are also
very supportive, they are all my younger ones I am the first born and so I love
all of them.